


Supernatural 3.04 review

by yourlibrarian



Series: Supernatural Reviews [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Review, Episode: s03e04 Sin City, Gen, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 17:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Originally posted October 26, 2007.
Series: Supernatural Reviews [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202249
Kudos: 1
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Supernatural 3.04 review

Whoa. Casual viewers who were looking for action were probably terribly disappointed. For fanfic lovers who were looking for details and plot? Awesome.

Speaking of fanfic, there were parts of this that seemed just like that to me, and I mean that in a good way. Notably I'm talking about the lengthy scene of Dean and the demon stuck talking in a basement they were trapped in. Now a lot of fanfic tends to use the "2 people trapped together" for other purposes, but I liked that there was even a nod to that here. Mostly though, I was completely hooked by an episode which had a few nice bits here and there in the first half and then spent the second building up not only a mythic arc but further developing Sam's role in it (and if I'm not mistaken, Dean's). It was anything but fast moving, but if you're invested in the story it was as gripping as any fight scene.

But back to the beginning. A guy shoots himself in a church as an act of hopelessness (and the nun has quite a set of lungs). Later in the episode we see another guy shoot someone else and then try to take his own life. Two people who have been driven to despair and death by their own actions or that of those around them. From what I'm gathering this is essentially the plan for the demons (those not fighting among themselves anyway). They don't need to take over and control the human population, all they have to do is to distract the majority of them and they'll take themselves out of the equation one way or another. Given the quick reference to Dick Cheney later in the episode, I think there's more than a little parallel with the slide in the U.S.'s political situation over the last 8 years where one egregious act after another has taken place to relatively little outcry.

Another thing I thought of was what Ruby says to Bobby when he asks her what she wants. "Peace on earth" she replies (though not, goodwill towards men). And I was struck by how similar this seemed to the Cylons on the reincarnation of BSG. What if Ruby is right, the demons want the earth to themselves and want the humans to stop screwing things up?

To start off though we see Dean, Sam and Bobby working together on the Colt. Or at least Dean and Bobby are, doing what I would have hoped to see, which is to try and get the Colt working again given it's the only known weapon they have. I wondered then if that’s part of what Bobby has been doing since Wyoming when the gun came back into their possession. Why are Sam and Dean at Bobby's anyway? He doesn't seem to be particularly close to a solution while they're there and we last saw them in NY, not exactly nearby. We do get told it's been 2 months since the gate opened whereas in the premiere it had been 2 weeks. So there's been at least 2 weeks between episodes so far.

I really enjoyed the banter and general tone of the scene. It was as light as the room was sunny. It makes me wonder if Dean and Sam ever ganged up like that to tease John? Surely they must have. It makes me glad, yet again, that Bobby is present because I'd think nothing could make siblings act like siblings more than the presence of a parental figure. And with Bobby telling him to call him if they run into anything, he certainly seems willing to step into that role.

At the church, Sam raises the issue of possession, but the priest doesn't take the bait. And as it turns out Sam was wrong anyway. What I'm less clear about is whether the demons recognized who Sam and Dean were from the get-go. Certainly the hapless Richie had been tagged as a hunter. I'm guessing that they were and the demons were simply going to wait and see what they did. Given that Casey later stated she had been ready to follow Sam, they might simply have wanted to take a firsthand look at the Winchesters and consider their options. Then again, why did Casey take Dean down into the basement at all? Had she been planning to kill him and then changed her mind after they talked?

Pity the mirrored ceiling wasn't used for anything but an interesting camera angle at the end. It seems like a lot of trouble to go to for something that wasn't actually necessary. I suppose that, like Dean's beloved vibrating bed, it was simply indicative of the decaying morality present in the town (either that or the presence of numerous people with bodies that look good in mirrors). But the specific shot was repeated and the mirrored ceiling wasn't the only time a shot began on a mirror. When we're first inside the bar, it begins on a mirror too. The second time we begin the scene with a shot of the mirror, which is the final scene, and we have Sam and Ruby together in the motel room. This could highlights a shift in both Sam's behavior and Sam and Dean's relationship. Given what Ruby says about being the angel on his shoulder, perhaps it's supposed to suggest that Dean is the one on the other shoulder. So it's a reverse mirror view if you will. There was also one more shot that was filmed through a mirror, a repetition of the bar scene shot which opened with Sam and Dean in the mirror, only the second time that same shot is used it's Dean and Casey leaving the bar together. We have the same set up as the motel ceiling mirror with there first being Sam and Dean, as we're used to seeing them together, then Sam and Dean with demons.

In any case Richie gets introduced and we get some of the first interesting tidbits gleaned from this episode: Dean met Richie while Sam was in college and he has run into a succubus (figures it would be offscreen, huh?). I liked the relaxed tone of the scene, with Sam and Dean slowly undressing (and if I'm not mistaken those are the suits they wore in Something Wicked). We have yet to get a tooth brushing and shaving scene but this seemed a nice moment of the day-to-day. Richie sets up the bar owner as a possible suspect and off they go.

Ah, CCR. Dean might not have gotten South Beach but the show seems to be hinting at New Orleans here (minus the contact Sam wanted to see). I raised my eyebrows at the nickel-butt reference. Is that supposed to be a good thing these days? The other thing we wondered is, if you're wandering around a town looking for demons, isn't dropping a "Christo" to everyone you meet a quick and effective way of testing their demon-ness? Could have saved everyone a lot of trouble in this episode. I'm also guessing that in previous New Orleans visits Dean must have turned down hurricanes.

After the shooting I was glad they kept up the "wanted men" thread by referencing the number of cops present at the scene. Richie goes off and gets himself killed (warning, if a woman takes you to her cellar this isn't a good sign) and we say goodbye to another colorful character.

So then sometime the following afternoon we see Sam and Dean back in the bar, Dean still looking for Richie. I'm going to assume that the scene between Bobby and Ruby took place the day before after Sam and Dean left. Presumably they'd have needed more than 24 hours to get the Colt working and follow Sam and Dean's trail. I liked that whole scene as well – Ruby deliberately hunting down Bobby, knowing about the Colt, and Bobby less than bowled over by either a demon's appearance or the idea that she's willing to help.

I am wondering what Sam has told Bobby about Ruby. He told Dean, but did he tell Bobby? We may find out in the next episodes. Whatever he knew, Bobby clearly decides to work with her because they not only ride off together in search of Sam but he has worked with her to solve the Colt problem. Between this and the way Dean has become sympathetic to Casey by the time she is killed, I'm thinking that Ruby's presence isn't going to be such an obstacle from those around Sam as we might have expected.

Back at the bar Sam decides to follow up on Trotter's activities. I like the fact that Dean loses his appetite every time he's worried, leaving his burger untouched. I'm reminded of his unwillingness to eat after Sam died. I'm assuming that when Dean phones Sam from the car that he is on his way back from burying Richie's body. Since Sam says he'll be at the bar in 20 minutes and yet he misses Dean, Dean must have been on his way back. I'm kind of wondering then how long it either took Sam to find Trotter's office or how long he had to wait for them to leave, since Dean had gotten the GPS tracking turned on, found Richie, buried him and returned by the time of that call. (Um, is no one going to miss Richie? Where exactly was he buried? And why wasn't he cremated like other hunters?) I'd have assumed that, given Richie's death, Dean knew something was up and had called Bobby, accounting for Bobby's quick arrival. But he doesn't seem to expect Bobby, and in any case Bobby gets there too quickly. So I'm guessing that it's Ruby who helps him track down Sam at Casey's place. Does she have Sam GPS?

If she does, she appears to be the only one. Given what Casey says about how many demons want to get to Sam you'd expect we'd be seeing a lot of them if they could find him as easily as Ruby does. Is it because she's related to the YED? (Again, is it Meg?)

Let's hear it for Sam finally fighting his way out of a problem by himself (against 2 humans but still). I was highly amused by the way JP played that scene once he realized his mistake. I guess there was no point in wiping the gun since his fingerprints were all over other things in the office. Way to get tracked by law enforcement.

Contradicting mounds of fanfic, Dean has never memorized the exorcism ritual even though this would have been a very handy thing to do. On the other hand, Sam apparently has (or at least Dean thinks so). I also thought Casey's metaphor was rather interesting. One would assume that the Winchesters counted as cavalry. It rather plays into her discussion as demons being the better (and oppressed) peoples. Her discussion of hell also had overtones of the immigration debate, "It's a pit of despair, why do you think we all want to come here?" Not to mention the proposition of the focused, hard-working demons and the native group quite willing to goof off. When the priest says that they've been together for centuries "to hell and back" I assume that means that they were humans who ended up in hell. Do all humans simply become demons if they're there long enough? I'm presuming if they'd always been demons they would have been around for thousands of years, not hundreds. This also makes me wonder how the fear of Sam coming back "changed" may play into this. Perhaps the demonic influence is stronger once he's been dead?

I was curious about the sulfur trace that Sam found in Casey's apartment. How does that work? Do demons simply exude sulfur every so often? Why? Does it only happen if something like teleportation occurs? (I'm thinking here of Ava and Sam's disappearances).

When Casey says "I've got faith, is my kind really all that different from yours?" I had to wonder. She's talking to the wrong Winchester after all. It's Sam that has/had faith. But it's interesting that she posits those who do as being behind the YED. Apparently the YED was at the forefront of what was a holy war. What I don't understand is that, through the Lucifer story, demons see humans as lesser creatures. Certainly given that demons seem to have the power of life and death, at least over humans, (witness both Dean and John's deals) one could certainly understand that. Why then, is Sam necessary at all? Why would the demons follow him any more than Lucifer would? Certainly that whole conversation between Sam and the priest in the car seemed about convincing Sam to take his rightful place (as well as suggesting it would be a way to take care of Dean). It would seem that the two demons in this story may be among many that are just biding their time until they see how things are going to shake out.

Dean, of course, is a lot more worried about his deal than he's willing to let on. His curiosity about hell and his reaction to Casey's question about fear make that pretty clear. He does doubtless find it liberating. But it's early days still. He also begins to have his first doubts about Sam, which is interesting to see since, as Bobby pointed out, Dean was being attacked when he arrived. On the other hand, with the Colt's power tested, they could have simply exorcised Casey. Dean saying "Sam, wait!" to try and keep Sam from shooting her was a reversal, with Dean asking to spare the life of a supernatural thing, a demon no less? It seemed very much a callback to Bloodlust and a reversal from a S2 episode. 

I really liked the final scene between Sam and Ruby. I'm liking the addition of her character, and the fact that Sam is disturbed by what he's doing but actually much more determined to kill demons than Dean seems to be is interesting. It's a change from how Dean always used to see the supernatural creatures in black and white, and yet it's Sam who's now much more willing to do what it takes regardless of the collateral damage. Apparently his death really did bring him back different, at least philosophically. Rather curious really since it was a human who killed him.

On the sheer speculation front, I'd already posited that this season might be all about the temptation and fall of Sam. I'm starting to wonder if we won't end up seeing the two brothers on opposite sides of the fence by the end of the season. Certainly S2 made clear that hardly anything would prompt Dean to kill Sam, regardless of whose safety was at risk. In fact the only scenario where I could see Dean doing so was if (1) Sam seemed to have become someone else and was a major threat and therefore (2) Dean thought that killing NotSam would bring back his Sam. Of course if EvilSam was killed presumably he'd end up in hell. With Dean.

I got this image of a season finale where the boys are squaring off against one another, guns pointed, the screen goes to black and we hear a shot. That would be quite the season cliffhanger. What I had a harder time imagining was what would prompt Sam to kill Dean. Could he ever do so on principle alone? What could get him to that point?


End file.
